Sunday, June 1, 2014

Sound sleep eludes most Dar residents, says MNH specialist

Naturally, all human beings should have an uninterrupted
night sleep of eight hours – and work for eight hours a day; anything beyond that means you’re
less productive, a Muhimbili National Hospital (MNH) specialist
has said. The biological
clock requires that humans should sleep all night, and that sleep during the day
and work at night cannot bring the same quality of product, and that any interruption
of the biological clock means insufficient production. Biologically, the human body
is driven by the sun, active during the day because the quality of sleep during
the day is not of the same as night sleep. A mental health specialist and head
of department of psychiatry at MNH, Dr Frank Masao, says that in order to be
healthy and productive, human beings need to work 40 hours a week (five days), and
spend the rest of the time for leisure. In an exclusive interview in Dar es Salaam mid this week,
Dr Frank Masao told the Guardian on Sunday that most people suffer from poor attention
and concentration is poor when a person works works more than eight hours. As a
result, the quality of their work suffers. Lack of quality sleep also results
in poor judgment from low attention to detail as well as headache.When people decide to sleep during the day
and work at night, the natural biological clock does not bring the same quality
of productive work. “You cannot have deep sleep during the day … and the
quality of work done at night is different from that we do during the day,” Dr
Masao says. Due to pressure of work, some people are forced to work at night without
sleep … or just catch nap while at work during the night … this results in professional
hazards at work,” he says, arguing that the quality of work from people who
work night shifts was lower than the same work performed during the day. He said
times had since changed; not long ago, it was possible to sleep for eight hours,
work for eight hours, but this wasn’t possible these days … because of many
factors, including traffic jams. He also attributed most traffic accidents to ‘work
without sleep.’ Grayson Mtalemwa, a public servant living in Mbezi, said he
couldn’t afford sleeping for eight hours because he spends six hours on the
road due to traffic jams. “I used to wake up at 4:30 am to get public transport
to the city centre where my offices are located … my typical day starts at 5:00
am … we are soon met with grinding strong traffic jams along the way to the Ubungo
traffic lights … we spend almost one hour to ge through those traffic light.”
he explains. There’s yet another gridlock at Magomeni Usalama, where you need more
than half an hour to negotiate your way over there; then another one awaits at
the Fire Station. Overall, it takes up to three hours to get to my office – the
same time needed to get back home. I spend more than an hour waiting for
transport at the ‘Posta’ station, which is heavily congested during the evening;
my journey home takes a good three hours – between 06:00pm and 09:00 pm – after
which I eat and wash, and usually go to sleep between 10:30pm - 05:00am. Lino
Kiriho, a businessman at Kariakoo who lives at Tegete, complains that he spends
more than three hours from his home to his work place. He said he once used ‘boda
boda’ commuter services to get to town, but these have since been restricted to
doing business in the suburbs only – and with that stroke of restriction, his
eight-hour date with night sleep has been permanently interrupted.

AWARD 1

I won the second prize in policy category of the African Information society Initiative ( AISI) awards 2004 which is annually organized by the United Nations- Economic Commission for Africa ( UNECA) based in Addis-Ababa, Ethiopia. On the first photo above standing with other awardees after the Ceremony at the National Settlers monument in Grahamstown, South Africa.This was during the 8th Highway Africa Conference.The second photo shows the cross section of Jounalists from different African countries who attended the ceremony.

AWARD 2

I also won the AISI-GKP/SDC Media Award special reporting on WSIS process and Africa, and conferred with the award in Tunis, Tunisia during WSIS summit in 2005. See the photo above.

AWARD 3

Winner on the Media Competition on writing about " Stigma denial and Discrimination" associated with HIV/AIDS. This was organized by theAssociation of Journalists Against Aids in Tanzania ( AJAAT). On the Photo above President Jakaya Mrisho Kikwete of Tanzania, ( then the Minister for Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation) was the guest of honour during the award giving ceremony.This was at Maelezo auditorium in Dar-es-Salaam September 2005.

AWARD 4

Winner on the Media Competition on writing about "Vulnerable Children" associated with HIV/AIDS This was organized by the Association of Journalists Against Aids in Tanzania ( AJAAT)

AWARD 5

Winner of the National ICT Media Award organized By SWOPNET in the Country. On the photo above Morogoro Regional Commissioner, Brigadier General ( Rt) Saidi Kalembo was the guest of honour during the award giving ceremony which was held at New Sarvoy Hotel in morogoro town.I was awarded a Mobile phone and a tape-recorder.

AWARD 6

I participated in the Media Competition in writing about VCT (Voluntary Counseling and Testing) in Tanzania which was held between July 15th and October 30th 2008 whereby I emerged among the top five winners. The competition was under the program known as “Tanzania bila Ukwimwi inawezekana” which literally means, Tanzania without AIDS disease transmission is possible”. This is a program which was organizedby the Association of Journalists Against AIDS in Tanzania (AJAAT) under TACAIDS funding. In the photo, I am being presented with a certificate of participation by the Chairman of the Tanzania Commission for AIDS (TACAIDS) Dr. Fatma Mrisho in a colorful ceremony which was held on 22nd December 2008 at Tanzania Information Centre in Dar es Salaam.

AWARD 7

AWARD 8

AWARD 9

I was among the top 17 best selected students who excelled in their final examinations of the 2010/2011 academic year and awarded with the Vice-Chancellor’s prize. I scored 4.5 GPA (First Class) in BA in Journalism. Above I am being given a certificate by the Chairman of the Open University of Tanzania Board of Senate. Standing at the centre facing camera is the Vice-Chancellor, Professor Tolly Mbwette. Extreme left partly hidden is the Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Academic) Professor Elifas Bisanda. This occasion took place during the convocation meeting, a day before the graduation day at the prospective permanent headquarter of the Open University of Tanzania which is currently under construction at Bungo-Kibaha in Coast region 40 kilometers away west of Dar es Salaam city.